Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology

Professor Arne Schirrmacher

Visiting Scholar

Faculty of History | Oxford Centre for History of Science, Medicine, and Technology | Centre for the History and Philosophy of Physics (HAPP)

arne.schirrmacher@history.ox.ac.uk

I am on leave from Humboldt University in Berlin, where I also teach as a professor of the history of science at the Technical University in its BA and MA programmes on Culture and Technology and Theory and History of Science and Technology, resp.

Based at the Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology, I am currently also a Visiting Fellow of St Cross College and its Centre for the History and Philosophy of Physics (HAPP).

Research Interests

My research focuses on the history of modern natural sciences and the history of the cultures of science and technology in the 20th century, especially their transmission through media of communication and exhibition.

I am currently writing a history of the transformation of the science museum in the 20th century and researching the role of scientific student clubs in the development of the natural sciences at Oxford, c 1880-1940. Other fields of research comprise the history of physics in the 19th and 20th centuries, film as a source for the history of science, the history of science from the perspective of its public(s) and media, and science and the city.

See page on Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin website

Featured Publications

Establishing Quantum Physics in Göttingen. David Hilbert, Max Born, and Peter Debye in Context, 1900-1926 (Springer Nature 2019)

It might stir some irritation that this book on quantum mechanics in Göttingen does without the name of Werner Heisenberg in its title. Rather David Hilbert, the mathematician, and Peter Debye, best known for his experimental work elsewhere, are mentioned together with Max Born, the undisputed physics leader of the 1920s in the North German university town. This contextual study of the establishing of quantum theory in Göttingen aims to provide a new perspective on a well-known and much-praised chapter of the history of science.

cd featured publication schirrmacher architectures of science

Architectures of Science. The Berlin Universities and Their Development in Urban Space Arne Schirrmacher and Maren Wienigk, eds. (Jovis 2020)

In Berlin, science, architecture, and the city are interwoven in a unique way: what was originally a single palace in the historic centre gradually developed to become a comprehensive academic landscape, in which three large universities today shape the city. Taking a multi-perspectival approach, this architectural guide asks how the growth of Berlin as a metropolis has been linked to the development of science and how its various disciplines have been able to realize their demands for buildings to carry out research and teaching and to hold scientific collections.

Research Centres

Oxford Centre for History of Science, Medicine, and Technology

St Cross Centre for the History and Philosophy of Physics (HAPP)

Specialism History of Science

Period Modern

Region Europe North America

College St Cross College

Faculty / Department Faculty of History